EU Legislative Update on the New Product Liability Directive
Summary
On 9 October 2023, the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) and Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) agreed revised wording to amend the European Commission’s (the “EC”) proposed new Product Liability Directive (the “Directive”). The aim of the proposed Directive is to bring EU product liability law into the 21st century and to keep pace with technological advancements. To that end: • Article 4 of the proposed Directive brings software into the scope of EU product liability laws. • Article 7 extends liability to manufacturers of defective components, distributors, fulfilment service providers and online platforms. The Committees have suggested lowering that threshold; in their version, claimants need only show that it is possible that the product is defective or that its defectiveness is a possible cause of the damage (or both) in order to benefit from the rebuttable presumption(s); • Exemption for small businesses – The Committees have introduced a liability exemption for software manufacturers that are microenterprises or small enterprises at the time of placing the relevant product on the market; and • Joint and Several Liability – The EC’s wording provided (at Article 11) for joint and several liability where two or more economic operators are liable for the same damage.